LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR A temporary banner identifies the new home of Fresh & Fabulous Cafe in downtown Oxnard. The space previously was occupied by Luna's Mexican Restaurant and Nawlinz Bistro, among others.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR A children's table, right foreground, is among the seating options at Fresh & Fabulous Cafe's new home at Centennial Plaza in downtown Oxnard.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Already a longtime favorite in Ventura, Lalo's is opening a second location at what used to be a Carrows in Oxnard.

LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Hard-shell and soft tacos are seen at Lalo's Fast Food, one of five stops on the inaugural Unofficial Yelp Event Avenue Taco Crawl in Ventura.

That's the question as Fresh & Fabulous Cafe debuts at its new location in downtown Oxnard, becoming the eighth restaurant in as many years to open at a certain revolving-door address at Centennial Plaza.

"I'm not scared. I'm persistent," owner Magda Weydt said with a laugh Thursday. "I've been around for 10 years and have customers who know me. Moving here will expose me to new customers."

Also working in Weydt's favor: The café — scheduled to open at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at what most recently was Luna's Mexican Restaurant — offers dishes not readily available at neighboring businesses.

Many of them weren't even available at the original location, which didn't have a flat top grill and other hallmarks of a full kitchen.

Witness the new breakfast menu, which includes barbacoa eggs ($10.50) made with chipotle-spiced shredded beef and scrambled eggs served with tortillas, salsa and sour cream.

At lunch, the new array of burgers includes the "spicy cauliflower" ($9.25) featuring a vegetarian patty of cauliflower, quinoa, egg and ground walnuts topped with Monterey Jack cheese and served with chipotle mayo and a choice of side.

Returning favorites include an assortment of quiches ($8.95 with a side), house-made pita chips with hummus as a side-dish option, and, by-reservation-only, afternoon tea service ($13.95 to $17.95 per person).

"If you've never been here, you have to try one of our quiches. If you have, I hope you try one of our burgers. We're using sustainably raised beef from Double R Ranch," Weydt said. Other additions include almond milk for lattes, and organic, cane-sugar drinks in flavors like blood orange with pomegranate and turmeric from Tractor Soda Co.

"Just because you're eating healthy doesn't mean you have to exclude everything from your diet. My goal is to serve good food, made with fresh ingredients," said Weydt, a registered dietitian whose interest in food inspired her to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in dietetics and nutrition, respectively, at CSU Northridge.

She worked for a food safety company — specializing in menu planning and operations analysis — for seven years before opening the original Fresh & Fabulous in November 2006.

The focus then was on soups, sandwiches and the occasional Snickerdoodle cookie. There wasn't room for much else: The café occupied a 950-square-foot corner of the historic Woolworth Building where it faces Fourth Street.

Three years later, Weydt moved the café to a larger space in the same building.

It gained a new entrance at the corner of Fourth and A Streets. It also gained an eclectic diner vibe, thanks to furnishings that included a lunch counter, red Naugahyde booths and colorful, "Mad Men"-era pendant lamps collected by the building's owner.

The setting, which includes the Woolworth Museum in an adjacent hallway, proved popular with locals and visitors alike. But for Weydt and her staff, it could also be a drag. The sandwich prep area was in one area. The salad station was in another. The lack of a full kitchen left Weydt feeling that she and the café were both falling short of their potential.

Meanwhile, at the Centennial Plaza just down the block and around the corner, the cafe's future home was in constant flux.

It debuted as Capriccio, then cycled through Tortuga Cafe, Iron Horse Bar & Grill and a bricks-and-mortar version of the White Rabbit food truck before the owners of Nawlinz Bistro added black shutters to the windows and flower boxes to the patio to evoke New Orleans. For the restaurant's reboot as Nawlinz 805 Grill, they moved the main entrance from the side to the front of the building.

Then came Luna's Mexican Restaurant, which opened in January 2015 despite the presence of existing Mexican restaurants on either side. When it closed this June, Weydt jumped at the chance to move in.

The menu isn't the only thing she's changed. The space now features larger-than-life black-and-white images by Ventura County-based photographer Heber Pelayo. Blue paint and bright yellow metal chairs — the latter repurposed from the Nawlinz days — provide pops of color.

Seating includes a row of booths, several tables and raised counters in the windows and just inside the door, near the order counter.

As the mother of two children ages 7½ and "almost 3," Weydt also placed one children's table each in the dining room and on the patio. Kids can sit together and eat while their parents keep watch from nearby tables, she said.

The family-friendly atmosphere extends to the kids' menu, which at breakfast includes an egg plate with bacon or sausage and a choice of pancake, French toast or waffle ($4.50 and $6.50, depending on age).

Still to come are specials, some priced to coincide with bargain days at the Plaza Stadium 14 movie theater next door.

OPEN, SHUT AND IN BETWEEN

In Simi Valley, Ameci Pizza & Pasta reopened Tuesday — nearly three months after a vehicle jumped the curb and crashed through its front window. Aside from replacing the window and a few chairs damaged in the May 31 incident, the restaurant remains the same, said manager Carlos Sanchez.

The franchisee-operated spot is part of a chain that includes nine locations in Ventura County. Its hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (2780 Tapo Canyon Road, Suite B3, 805-581-9770, http://www.amecipizzaandpasta.com).

But after three and a half years in Moorpark, the owners of Geppino's Sicilian Kitchen announced via email blast and social media posts last weekend that they would close the location (484 E. Los Angeles Ave., Suite 100) after dinner service on Aug. 14 to focus on the restaurant's new sister site about 11 miles away.

"We had been trying to keep this location open but were unable to work out a mutually acceptable lease with our management company," the email reads. It offers patrons a "buy one entrée, get the second one free" deal at the Thousand Oaks location, which opened in December (call for details).

The full-bar license for the original site was transferred to the Thousand Oaks restaurant in early July. Happy hour is in effect from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays (3316 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., 805-449-1166, http://www.siciliankitchen484.com).

Already scheduled to close its doors Aug. 29 after nearly 70 years of business, Lupe's Mexican Restaurant on Thursday was shuttered by the Ventura County Environmental Health Division for "cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions (and) inoperable refrigeration resulting in unsafe food temperatures."

Someone answering the phone at the Thousand Oaks restaurant Thursday said that it would reopen when a new part arrived for the refrigeration unit — Saturday, at the earliest (1710 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., 805-495-3573).

In Oxnard, a "coming soon" banner for Lalo's Family Restaurant is tied to the construction fence at what closed in April 2015 as Carrows (1601 N. Oxnard Blvd.) The future restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner from a menu that echoes the array of tacos, burritos and seafood cocktails available at its pre-existing, local-favorite site, Lalo's Fast Food (aka Lalo's) in Ventura (1580 N. Ventura Ave., 805-667-6628).

Speaking of which ...

TACO CRAWL AFTERMATH ...

Nearly 30 people showed up on Aug. 7 to take part in the inaugural Unofficial Yelp Event Avenue Taco Crawl organized by local Yelp Elite members Rachel Watt and René and Anna Aldaba.

Stops on the walking tour included Lalo's and Taqueria Tepatitlan (362 N. Ventura Ave., 805-653-0508). The latter greeted the crawlers with a specially printed version of the menu and a taco bar to call their own.

It also was the site of Watt's favorite dish of the day: an al pastor soft taco. "The meat was simmered in red sauce and so tender it melted in your mouth," she wrote in an email.

"There was a rumbling about have a future taco crawl in Oxnard. Only time will tell," Watt added.

GOOD FOR WHAT ALES YA

The fifth annual Thousand Oaks Brew Fest presented by the Kiwanis Club of Thousand Oaks will feature brats, beers, wine, food and live music when it takes place 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Lakeside Pavilion (1379 E. Janss Road). Proceeds from tickets, $55 to $70 ($25 for designated drivers) will benefit community programs. Click on http://www.tobrewfest.com.

Lisa McKinnon is a staff writer for The Star. Her Cafe Society column appears in the Sunday Life section and Fridays in the Time Out section. For between-column updates, follow 805foodie on Twitter and Instagram and "like" the Facebook page VCS Eats. Please send email to lisa.mckinnon@vcstar.com.